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77-499: There are bazaars in every neighborhood of Karachi , Pakistan . The most popular bazaars in Karachi are: Tariq Road, Bohri Bazaar , Soldier Bazaar , Sarafa Bazar, Meena Bazaar , Urdu Bazaar, etc. There are generally thousands of small individually-owned or family-owned shops and stalls in each old style Bazaar or shopping area. Only some of the newly built shopping malls in the suburban areas of city of Karachi may be managed by

154-409: A funduq , khān , samsara , or wakāla . They could serve a variety of functions including an inn for travelers and merchants, a manufacturing center, a trade venue, or a warehouse. In Iran and Central Asia, the permanent bazaar is likewise in the centre of a city and had common architectural elements. These bazaars acted as financial centers of the city and were traditionally overseen by

231-766: A Painter in the Atlas and the Anti-Atlas published in 1922 Types of markets, bazaars and souks: Markets and retail in general: New Persian Dari is a name given to the New Persian language since the 10th century , widely used in Arabic (see Istakhri , al-Maqdisi and ibn Hawqal ) and Persian texts. Since 1964, Dari has been the official name in Afghanistan for the Persian spoken there. New Persian

308-710: A book of travels titled From the Black Sea through Persia and India. Other notable painters in the Orientalist genre who included scenes of street life and market-based trade in their work are Jean-Léon Gérôme Delacroix (1824–1904), Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803–1860), Frederic Leighton (1830–1896), Eugène Alexis Girardet 1853–1907 and William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), who all found inspiration in Oriental street scenes, trading and commerce. A proliferation of both Oriental fiction and travel writing occurred during

385-457: A common Aramaic origin of the Arabic souk , and holds a prominent role in everyday life. Markets such as Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem are often covered rows of stalls much like those seen elsewhere in the region, selling produce, spices, halvah , and even clothing. Scholar Mohammad Gharipour has pointed out that in spite of the centrality of bazaars in Persian history, relatively little

462-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in

539-538: A large organization or a commercial company. Saddar Town area is the old central shopping area in Karachi . Main streets for your shopping pleasure are Abdullah Haroon Road , Zaibunnisa Street , Zainab Market and Bohri Bazaar . For meats and groceries, you can head to the Empress Market . This is a vast Victorian structure in Mughal Gothic style, with a domineering 50 meters high clock tower in

616-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from

693-438: A sale or fair to raise money for charitable purposes (e.g. charity bazaar ). In Turkish , the word was borrowed as pazar , but it refers to an outdoor market held at regular intervals, not a permanent structure containing shops. English place names usually translate "çarşı" (shopping district in a downtown or downtown itself) as "bazaar" when they refer to an area with covered streets or passages. The word "souk" in

770-500: A social function as being a place for people to meet in, in addition to its commercial function. In pre-Islamic Arabia, two types of souks existed: permanent urban markets and temporary seasonal markets. The temporary seasonal markets were held at specific times of the year and became associated with particular types of produce. Suq Hijr in Bahrain was noted for its dates while Suq 'Adan was known for its spices and perfumes. In spite of

847-482: A veil was a particularly tempting subject because she was hidden from view, adding to her mysterious allure. Notable artists in the Orientalist genre include: Jean-Léon Gérôme Delacroix (1824–1904), Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803–1860), Frederic Leighton (1830–1896), Eugène Alexis Girardet 1853-1907 and William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) who all found inspiration in Oriental street scenes, trading and commerce. French painter Jean-Étienne Liotard visited Istanbul in

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924-526: Is Al Mirbid just outside Basra , also famed for its poetry competitions in addition to its storytelling activities. Temporary souks tended to become known for specific types of produce. For example, Suq Hijr in Bahrain was noted for its dates while Suq 'Adan was known for its spices and perfumes. Political, economic and social changes have left only the small seasonal souks outside villages and small towns, primarily selling livestock and agricultural products. Weekly markets have continued to function throughout

1001-591: Is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish is the most widely spoken. "New Persian"

1078-558: Is given in a notice attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (cited by Ibn al-Nadim in Al-Fehrest ). According to him, " Pārsī was the language spoken by priests, scholars, and the like; it is the language of Fars ." This language refers to the Middle Persian . As for Dari , he says, "it is the language of the cities of Madā'en; it is spoken by those who are at the king's court. [Its name] is connected with presence at court. Among

1155-701: Is known due to the lack of archaeological evidence. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans conquered and excavated parts of North Africa and the Levant. These regions now make up what is called the Middle East, but in the past were known as the Orient. Europeans sharply divided peoples into two broad groups – the European West and the East or Orient ; us and the other. Europeans often saw Orientals as

1232-928: Is known due to the lack of archaeological evidence. Historical records document the concept of a bazaar existing in Iran as early as 3000 BCE, where some large cities contained districts dedicated to trade and commerce. Archeological data also suggests the existence of market districts in ancient Mesopotamia . Markets centers must have existed in Egypt to conduct international trade, but no archeological evidence for them has been found. In Achaemenid Persia (550–330 BCE), documents indicate that crafts were sold in markets close to Persepolis. A network of bazaars had sprung up alongside ancient caravan trade routes. Bazaars located along these trade routes, formed networks, linking major cities with each other and in which goods, culture, people and information could be exchanged. Sources from around

1309-530: Is mid-century example of the genre. Byron's Oriental Tales, is another example of the Romantic Orientalism genre. Although these works were purportedly non-fiction, they were notoriously unreliable. Many of these accounts provided detailed descriptions of market places, trading and commerce. Examples of travel writing include: Les Mysteres de L'Egypte Devoiles by Olympe Audouard published in 1865 and Jacques Majorelle 's Road Trip Diary of

1386-918: Is the Khan al-Mirjan in Baghdad, built in 1359 as part of a larger architectural complex. Muhammad's prohibition against constructing permanent buildings and levying taxes in the market began to be disregarded as early as the Umayyad period (7th to 8th centuries). The Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiya I and Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik both built structures in the market of Medina and levied taxes there, while purpose-built markets were built in early Islamic cities further abroad such as Basra in Iraq , Fustat in Egypt, and Kairouan in Tunisia. This process seems to have accelerated during

1463-458: Is the name given to the final stage of development of Persian language. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran corresponding to modern-day Fars province ). According to

1540-606: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: Standard Persian is the standard variety of Persian that is the official language of the Iran and Tajikistan and one of

1617-459: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task for which it was particularly suitable due to its relatively simple morphological structure and this situation persisted until at least

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1694-586: The Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. There are different opinions about the origin of the word Dari . The majority of scholars believes Dari refers to the Persian word dar or darbār "court" ( دربار ) as it was the formal language of the Sasanian dynasty . The original meaning of the word dari

1771-630: The Middle East , the Balkans , Central Asia , North Africa and South Asia . They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets that have doors on each end and served as a city's central marketplace. The term bazaar originates from Persian , where it referred to a town's public market district. The term bazaar is sometimes also used to refer collectively to the merchants , bankers and craftsmen who work in that area. The term souk comes from Arabic and refers to marketplaces in

1848-535: The Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries), the construction of commercial buildings in and around the bazaar was often sponsored by sultans, ruling elites, or by members of the Ottoman royal family . The revenues generated by these buildings were typically earmarked to support the upkeep of religious complexes sponsored by these same patrons, through the legal framework of a waqf (legal endowment). In

1925-669: The Selimiye Mosque complex in Edirne or the Sultanahmet Mosque complex in Istanbul. The Spice Bazaar or Mısır Çarşısı ('Egyptian Market') in Istanbul is also one of the largest and best-known examples. The han is similar in function to other khān or caravanserai buildings elsewhere, with a courtyard enclosed by two storeys. The ground floor was usually used for storage and for stabling horses, while

2002-630: The Sultanate of Rum , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. In

2079-582: The gold souk , the texitle souk, the spice souk, the leather souk, the booksellers' souk, etc. This promotes competition among sellers and helps buyers easily compare prices. Merchants specialized in each trade were also organized into guilds , which provided support to merchants but also to clients. The exact details of the organizations varied from region to region. Each guild had rules that members were expected to follow, but they were loose enough to allow for competition. Guilds also fulfilled some functions similar to trade unions and were able to negotiate with

2156-683: The kedkhoda in Istanbul or the amir-i bazariyan in Delhi . In the Maghreb (northwestern Africa), the muḥtasib also shared responsibilities with other officials such as the qadi or the hakim . Permanent bazaars were established in urban zones, usually within the city walls and close to the heart of the city. In much of the Middle East and North Africa, the bazaar is a network of interconnected spaces, including streets and buildings, with diverse architectural forms. Its boundaries are not sharply defined and can vary according to circumstance, as

2233-649: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,

2310-679: The 17th century and painted pastels of Turkish domestic scenes. British painter John Frederick Lewis who lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, painted highly detailed works showing realistic genre scenes of Middle Eastern life. Edwin Lord Weeks was a notable American example of a 19th-century artist and author in the Orientalism genre. His parents were wealthy tea and spice merchants who were able to fund his travels and interest in painting. In 1895 Weeks wrote and illustrated

2387-582: The 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to

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2464-474: The 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on the Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai , Dobhashi and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under

2541-532: The 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious and literary language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by

2618-935: The Arab world. Most of them are named from the day of the week on which they are held. They usually have open spaces specifically designated for their use inside cities. Examples of surviving markets are the Wednesday Market in Amman that specializes in the sale of used products, the Ghazl market held every Friday in Baghdad specializing in pets; the Fina’ Market in Marrakech offers performance acts such as singing, music, acrobats and circus activities. In tribal areas, where seasonal souks operated, neutrality from tribal conflicts

2695-545: The Arabic-speaking world is roughly equivalent to "bazaar". The Arabic word is a loan from Aramaic "šūqā" ("street, market"), itself a loanword from the Akkadian "sūqu" ("street"). The Arabic word sūq was then borrowed into English via French ( souk ) by the 19th century. The English word can also be spelled "suq" or "souq". In Modern Standard Arabic the term al-sūq refers to markets in both

2772-717: The East, however many artists relied heavily on their everyday experiences for inspiration in their artworks. For example, Charles D'Oyly , who was born in India, published the Antiquities of Dacca featuring a series of 15 engraved plates of Dacca [now Dhaka, Bangladesh] featuring scenes of markets, commerce, buildings and streetscapes. European society generally frowned on nude painting – but harems, concubines and slave markets, presented as quasi-documentary works, satisfied European desires for pornographic art. The Oriental female wearing

2849-413: The Middle East and North Africa. Although the lack of archaeological evidence has limited detailed studies of the evolution of bazaars, the earliest evidence for the existence of bazaars or souks dates to around 3000 BCE . Cities in the ancient Middle East appear to have contained commercial districts. Later, in the historic Islamic world , bazaars typically shared in common certain institutions, such as

2926-508: The Middle East, the bazaar is considered to be "the beating heart of the city and a symbol of Islamic architecture and culture of high significance." Today, bazaars are popular sites for tourists and some of these ancient bazaars have been listed as world heritage sites or national monuments on the basis of their historical, cultural or architectural value. The Medina of Fez , Morocco , which includes numerous long market streets (e.g. Tala'a Kebira ) and bazaar areas (e.g. Kissariat al-Kifah ),

3003-399: The bazaar is closely integrated with its urban surroundings and with other important institutions of the city. Although there is great variety among the bazaars of this region, there are three recurring elements, in addition to the general network of market streets. One element is the individual shops or booths that line each side of a market street. The shops are usually small spaces open to

3080-554: The bazaar to economic life and the prominence of marketplace terminology in the Quran , not much is known about the early history of bazaars and it remains a topic of ongoing research. Most of the surviving urban commercial structures in the Islamic world date from the 16th century or later, though some preserved urban caravanserais (commonly known as a funduq , khān , or wakāla ) date from earlier periods. The oldest of these

3157-538: The centrality of the Middle East in the history of souks, relatively little is known due to the lack of archaeological evidence. However, documentary sources point to permanent marketplaces in cities from as early as 550 BCE. According to traditional Muslim narratives, Muhammad established a market place ( sūq ) in Medina shortly after arriving there during the Hijrah in 622 CE. He designated an open, unbuilt space as

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3234-638: The cities that developed under the Ottoman Empire, there was generally one central bazaar area, known in Turkish as the çarşı . The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul , known locally as the Kapalıçarşı ('covered market'), is a famous example. Additionally, several types of market structures were common: the bedesten , the arasta , and the han (Turkish cognate of khān ). The Ottoman bedesten

3311-716: The court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted the Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The mastery of

3388-576: The early modern period. Many English visitors to the Orient wrote narratives around their travels. British Romantic literature in the Orientalism tradition has its origins in the early eighteenth century, with the first translations of The Arabian Nights (translated into English from the French in 1705–08). The popularity of this work inspired authors to develop a new genre, the Oriental tale. Samuel Johnson's History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, (1759)

3465-416: The early modern period. Many of these works were lavishly illustrated with engravings of every day scenes of Oriental lifestyles, including scenes of market places and market trade. Artists focused on the exotic beauty of the land – the markets, caravans and snake charmers. Islamic architecture also became favorite subject matter. Some of these works were propaganda designed to justify European imperialism in

3542-475: The front center of the building. Empress Market houses hundreds of shops and stalls so shoppers would have plenty of choice and a wide variety of consumer goods. This geography of Karachi -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Karachi -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in

3619-463: The government on behalf of merchants or represent their interests when needed. Though each neighbourhood within the city would have a local souk selling food and other essentials, the main bazaar was one of the central structures of a large city, selling durable goods, luxuries and providing services such as money exchange. Workshops where goods for sale are produced (in the case of a merchant selling locally-made products) are typically located away from

3696-482: The growing importance of the suburbs and the commercial districts resulted in most of them being enclosed within newly expanded city walls. From the 10th century onward, the bazaar became the financial center of a city and was heavily patronized and developed by ruling elites. The grouping of a bazaar, citadel, and Friday mosque also became more common. In the Mamluk Sultanate (13th to 16th centuries) and in

3773-428: The languages of the people of Khorasan and the east, the language of the people of Balkh is predominant." New Persian is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in

3850-414: The market and carried on trade, while the men remain at home weaving cloth. He also described The Babylonian Marriage Market . Sassanid rule in Iran was an important period for the development of urbanization and commerce. In Sassanid Iran, the bazaar was usually the heart of a town or city, where it spread outwards and affected the development of other neighbourhoods. The bazaar usually contained, or

3927-404: The market area and forbade both the construction of permanent structures and the levying of taxes in this area. Eight years later, he is said to have appointed a market inspector ( 'āmil 'alā l-sūq ), a position that likely evolved into the later muḥtasib in Islamic cities, an official in charge of overseeing public morality and regulating weights and measures. Despite the importance of

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4004-412: The most prestigious and profitable trades such as jewelry, perfumes, and textiles. In order to protect these goods, the entrances to this area could be closed and locked at night or in times of danger. The other recurring element is the presence of courtyard buildings entered via a single large doorway. Often translated into English as a caravanserai , this type of building is known in different regions as

4081-467: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created

4158-499: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal

4235-479: The newer speech having now been transformed from Middle into New Persian was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903) and Samanid Empire (874–999), and could develop only in range and power of expression. Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the newer Persian tongue and after him

4312-435: The opposite of Western civilization; the peoples could be threatening- they were "despotic, static and irrational whereas Europe was viewed as democratic, dynamic and rational." At the same time, the Orient was seen as exotic, mysterious, a place of fables and beauty. This fascination with the other gave rise to a genre of painting known as Orientalism . A proliferation of both Oriental fiction and travel writing occurred during

4389-586: The physical sense and the abstract economic sense (e.g., an Arabic-speaker would speak of the sūq in the old city as well as the sūq for oil, and would call the concept of the free market السوق الحرّ , as-sūq al-ḥurr ). In northern Morocco, the Spanish corruption socco is often used as in the Grand Socco and Petit Socco of Tangiers . In Israel , the term shuk or shuq ( Hebrew : שׁוּק , romanized :  šūq ) shares

4466-603: The poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of the Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in

4543-476: The position of the muḥtasib , and certain architectural forms, such as roofed streets and courtyard buildings known in English as caravanserais . The exact details of their evolution and organization varied from region to region. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Western interest in oriental culture led to the publication of many books about daily life in Middle Eastern countries. Souks, bazaars and

4620-440: The reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( r.  724–743 ) in particular. Markets that sold the most important or expensive goods were usually located near the city's central Friday mosque . In some cities, such as Cairo and Aleppo, the main bazaar was initially focused along one important street and then progressively grew and branched off into the surrounding streets. During the Islamic period in Iran, bazaars developed along

4697-411: The same era also indicate that ancient Greeks regulated trade in areas at the center of their cities around stoa buildings. The ideas of Greek city planning were spread to the Middle East during the Seleucid period, following the conquests of Alexander the Great . The Greek historian, Herodotus , noted that in Egypt, roles were reversed compared with other cultures and Egyptian women frequented

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4774-407: The same lines as those of the Sassanid period. Up to the 11th century, the bazaar developed more commonly in the suburbs outside the city walls that enclosed the shahristān , the formal city. This was especially true in Central Asia, though there were exceptions in some regions where the bazaar was grouped with the citadel and the city's Friday mosque inside the city walls. After the 11th century,

4851-501: The souk itself. Historically, in Islamic cities, the muḥtasib was the official in charge of regulating and policing the bazaar and other aspects of urban life. They monitored things such as weights and measures, pricing, cleanliness, noise, and traffic circulation, as well as being responsible for other issues of public morality. They also investigated complaints about cheating or the quality of goods. The equivalent official could be known by other titles in different regions, such as

4928-458: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,

5005-522: The state. Some Iranian bazaars are organized around one long market street from which other market streets branch off (e.g. in Isfahan or Tehran), while others are large rectangular zones with a grid-like network of parallel and intersecting streets (e.g. as in Tabriz). The streets are lined with structures of one or two storeys that contain spaces for shops. The streets are typically roofed with brick vaults, pierced by skylights to allow for light and air circulation. The shops are often adjacent or connected to

5082-421: The street and occupied by merchants. They are typically equipped with large shutters which can be closed and locked when the shopkeeper is away. Another element is a more secure market area, usually centrally located and consisting of streets that were covered or roofed. This complex is variably known as a qayṣariyya , bedesten , or khān , depending on the city or historical period. It usually hosted

5159-605: The trappings of trade feature prominently in paintings and engravings, works of fiction and travel writing. Shopping at a bazaar or market-place remains a central feature of daily life in many Middle-Eastern and South Asian cities and towns and the bazaar remains the beating heart of West Asian and South Asian life; in the Middle East, souks tend to be found in a city's old quarter. Bazaars and souks are often important tourist attractions. A number of bazaar districts have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites due to their historical and/or architectural significance. The origin of

5236-451: The two official languages of Afghanistan . It is a set of spoken and written formal varieties used by the educated persophones of several nations around the world. As Persian is a pluricentric language , Standard Persian encompasses various linguistic norms (consisting of prescribed usage ). Standard Persian practically has three standard varieties with official status in Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan . The standard forms of

5313-538: The upper floor housed merchants. A temporary, seasonal souk is held at a set time that might be yearly, monthly or weekly. The oldest souks were set up annually, and were typically general festivals held outside cities. For example, Souk Ukadh was held yearly in pre-Islamic times in an area between Mecca and Ta’if during the sacred month of Dhu al-Qi'dah . While a busy market, it was more famous for its poetry competitions, judged by prominent poets such as Al-Khansa and Al-Nabigha . An example of an Islamic annual souk

5390-435: The word "bazaar" comes from New Persian bāzār , from Middle Persian wāzār , from Old Persian wāčar , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wahā-čarana . The term spread from Persian into Arabic, now used throughout the Middle East and in the Indian subcontinent. In North American and Europe, the English word "bazaar" can denote more generically a shop or market selling miscellaneous items. It can also refer in particular to

5467-448: The workshops where the goods are also produced, so that manufacturing and retail are often concentrated in the same areas, though some production (especially of textiles) was also distributed in other parts of the city. Like the bazaars further west, there were also many khān s (caravanserais) built in the area. They acted as warehouses, production centers, wholesale centers, hostels for merchants, and offices for conducting business. In

5544-445: Was a solid stone building, typically rectangular and roofed by domes, with shops inside. Like the qayṣariyya or bedesten in other regions, it hosted the most important and luxurious trades. The arasta is usually an elongated market structure or market street with shops lining its façades. Arasta s could be independent markets built outside the main bazaar area, such as those built as part of large religious complexes like

5621-542: Was adjoined by, an open-air plaza that served as a forum of socio-economic activity. Historically, bazaars were also held outside cities at locations where incoming caravans stopped and merchants displayed their goods for sale. Bazaars were established at caravanserai , places where a caravan or caravans arrived and remained for rest and refreshments. Since this might be infrequent, souks often extended beyond buying and selling goods to include major festivals involving various cultural and social activities. Any bazaar may serve

5698-748: Was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Al-Madina Souk in Aleppo is the largest covered historic market in the world, with an approximate length of 13 kilometers. It is part of the Ancient Aleppo , a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986 in Syria . The Bazaar complex in Tabriz , Iran, was listed by UNESCO in 2010. The Bazaar of Qaisiyariye in Lar, Iran , is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2007. Kemeraltı Bazaar in İzmir

5775-435: Was placed on tentative list in 2020. Shopping at a souk or market place is part of daily life throughout much of the Middle East. Prices are commonly set by bargaining , also known as haggling, between buyers and sellers. Bazaars or souks are traditionally divided into specialized sections dealing in specific types of product, each usually housed in a few narrow streets and named after the product it specializes in such as

5852-492: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راه‌آهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in

5929-419: Was usually declared for the period of operation of a souk to permit the unhampered exchange of surplus goods. Some of the seasonal markets were held at specific times of the year and became associated with particular types of produce such as Suq Hijr in Bahrain, noted for its dates while Suq 'Adan was known for its spices and perfumes. In spite of the centrality of the Middle Eastern market place, relatively little

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